BATON ROUGE — Top-ranked LSU rolled past Houston, 9-3, to give Smoke Laval his 100th victory as head coach of the Tigers, on a windy Friday night at Alex Box Stadium.
Laval, the 2003 SEC Coach of the Year, upped his record to 100-45-1, while the Tigers (11-1) extended their win streak to nine games, the longest since a 10-win stretch between Feb. 17-March 3, 2001.
LSU (No. 1 Collegiate Baseball, No. 3 Baseball America, No. 4 ESPN/Sports Weekly) used a two-run seventh and a three-run eighth to pull away from the Cougars (4-8) and earn the sixth come-from-behind win of the season, while roughing up six Houston pitchers.
Ryan Patterson collected his fourth three-hit game of the season, going 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI, while Blake Gill added three hits of his own, breaking out of a recent slump. Nick Stavinoha and Jon Zeringue added two hits apiece.
“I liked us again offensively,” said Laval. “We only struck out twice and had a good plan at the plate.”
LSU starter Justin Meier (3-0) fought through some early first inning trouble to pick up his third win of the season in 7.1 innings of work. The Windermere, Fla. native scattered 10 hits, giving up two runs and adding four strikeouts and a walk.
“I was a little shaky in the first innings through the fourth,” said Meier. “I was getting the ball a little bit up, but I got into a groove in the later innings and finally got the ball down.”
Houston took a short-lived, 1-0 lead in the second inning when Brett Cooley scored a wild pitch that rolled into the Cougar dugout.
LSU responded with a run of their own in the third inning to knot the game at one a piece. Ryan Patterson ripped a single past a diving second-baseman Cole Bruce and then reached third base on a one-out single by Blake Gill. Patterson would later score on Matt Liuzza’s RBI sac-fly into center field.
Derek Hebert, making his fourth start of the season in place of the injured Matt Horwath, singled to left field. J.C. Holt then shot a double into the left-center field gap, scoring Hebert from first. Patterson stretched the Tigers lead to 3-1 by chopping a 1-0 pitch over third baseman Nick Bott into left field that would plate Holt.
Houston starter Garrett Mock (0-4) would leave the game after walking Matt Liuzza to load the bases. The right-hander was roughed up for four runs, all earned, while allowing eight hits and two walks in four innings.
Cougar right-hander Brandon Roznovsky inherited a no-out, bases loaded jam, but retired three consecutive Tiger batters — Clay Harris, Nick Stavinoha and Ivan Naccarata — to get out of any further damage.
Meier fell into trouble in the sixth. Cole Bruce lined a double into deep left-center field. Rob Johnson drew a walk, while Nick Bott would follow with a groundball that caromed off of the third base bag into left field, scoring Bruce to close the gap to 4-2.
“They (Houston) really didn’t hit him hard,” said Laval. “They just got hits, like the one that hit the bag in the sixth, but Meier really competedand found his rhythm in the sixth, seventh and eighth.”
LSU would put the game away in the bottom half of the seventh and eighth innings. Houston reliever Brad Depoy, in his second inning of work, retired the first two batters in the seventh but surrendered two walks and a single to Nick Stavinoha, before being greeted by Jon Zeringue who ripped his team-high eighth double of the season into left field, scoring Stavinoha and Clay Harris.
J.C. Holt walked to lead off the eighth and then reached second base on an error by pitcher Justin Vaclavik. Holt came around to score his second run of the game on Ryan Patterson’s third hit of the ballgame, a sharp single to right field. Patterson came around to score on Blake Gill’s RBI single. The Tigers took advantage of the Cougar’s third error of the night when Jon Zeringue grounded a ball to shortstop Stuart Musslewhite, scoring Gill.
The series resumes at 2 p.m. Saturday with game three set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
Junior left-hander Lane Mestepey (2-0, 1.53) will go after his third win of the season on Saturday, while senior right-hander Matt Varner (2-1, 4.15) will make the start for Houston.
UH — 010 001 001 – 3 12 3
LSU — 001 030 23X – 9 14 0
WP — Meier (3-0)
LP — Mock (0-4)
E– Musslewhite (4), Bruce (3), Gartz (1)
LOB — UH 11; LSU 12
2B — Bruce 2 (4); Holt (3), Zeringue (8); HBP — Cooley; SF — Liuzza (1), Harris, C. (1); SB — Tully 2 (5)
Time — 3:23
Att. — 7,698 (paid); 4,015 (actual)